ANN ARBOR, Mich.—If the Michigan Wolverines want to end their seven-game losing streak against the Ohio State Buckeyes, they’ll have to figure out a way to stop the Buckeye’s offense. At halftime, Ohio State leads, 24-23.

The Ohio State offense got on the board first with a 54-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Braxton Miller to Corey Brown. Brown was alone near the end zone in an obvious defensive lapse for Michigan. Miller later connected with DeVier Posey for a 43-yard touchdown.

Those passes were nice, but Miller (8-for-15, 127 yards) struggled with his accuracy, throwing four passes to wide open receivers that nobody on earth could have caught and a handful more that were slightly less bad than that. He was better running the ball; he had 65 yards on 10 carries, including a 19-yard touchdown run after the Ohio State defense recovered a Denard Robinson fumble.

Michigan tied the game at 7 with a nifty 41-yard touchdown run by Robinson. He scored again later on a 6-yard run. The Wolverines took their first lead of the game on a safety when Ohio State left tackle Mike Adams was called for holding in the end zone. That was particularly troubling for the Ohio State offense considering that drive had started at the 20.

Robinson hit Junior Hemingway for a 26-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. That gave Robinson 36 touchdown passes for his career—one more than Michigan and NFL superstar Tom Brady.

PREGAME READ

Neither team is going anywhere, at least nowhere special enough for this game to mean much. But that doesn’t mean The Game means nothing.

No matter the season, no matter the circumstances, Michigan vs. Ohio State always means plenty. In this case, No. 17 Michigan (9-2) is the favorite to end its seven-game losing streak against Ohio State (6-5). The Buckeyes have outscored the Wolverines 218-108 in that stretch.

But that feels like ancient history around the Michigan campus this morning. The clearest sign the locals here are confident: Public trash talking by the person directing traffic near Michigan Stadium. At the corner of Main Street and Stadium Boulevard, two policeman direct automobile traffic. A woman directs foot traffic using a microphone and a speaker. There are only so many opportunities to say, “It’s safe to cross now,” so she directs her attention to all that is wrong with Ohio State football.

She points out that this is the first time in seven years the Buckeyes are not in the Top 25. She says Ohio State’s former quarterback took the easy way out and left for the NFL.

She asks whether it is official yet that Urban Meyer is the team’s new head coach; nobody rebuts that “You guys just hired a great new coach!” is not much comeuppance. Regardless, she gets no answer, but she is undaunted. “I was hoping you guys would get Rich Rodriguez,” she says, which is an insult to Michigan, if you think about it.

She turns her attention back to Meyer. “You might as well hire somebody with the initials U-M.” She says the only thing better would be if Meyer’s middle initial were O. (It’s F, as in Frank.)

As she unleashes this stream of consciousness (but obviously researched), thousands of college football fans walk into The Game. They are wearing Michigan jerseys, Michigan hats, Ohio State jerseys, Ohio State hats, giant blue Mohawk wigs and every item of clothing related to the two schools.